Acceptance Criteria

The specific conditions a user story must satisfy for the product owner to accept it as complete. Written before development begins, acceptance criteria define the boundaries of a story and prevent ambiguity about what 'done' means. They are typically expressed as a list of testable statements — often in Given-When-Then (Gherkin) format — and cover both functional behavior and edge cases. Good acceptance criteria are unambiguous, testable, and achievable within one sprint. They serve as the basis for test cases and help developers understand exactly what to build. Stories that lack clear acceptance criteria are not considered ready for sprint planning.